This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-88421, filed on Dec. 6, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wafer assembly, and more particularly, to a wiper assembly designed to simply combine or separate a shaft with or from an arm head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wafer assembly is a part of a system for cleaning the surface of a window of a vehicle. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional wiper assembly 100 includes a shaft 110, an arm head 120, and an arm 130 in order to clean a window 200 of a vehicle. The shaft 110 is connected to a driving motor 102 via a linkage 104 and rotated by the driving motor 102. The arm head 120 has a shaft hole 122, into which the shaft 110 is inserted, and rotates with a rotation of the shaft 110. One end of the arm 130 is combined with the arm head 120 by a rotating shaft 132 and pivotable about the rotating shaft 132, and the other end is combined with a wiper blade 134 which wipes the window 200.
A coupling spring 136 is installed between the arm head 120 and the arm 130. The coupling spring 136 contributes to closely adhering the wiper blade 134 to the window 200. More specifically, the coupling spring 136 is installed such that when a user pivots the arm 130 about the rotating shaft 132 so as to be distant from the window 200 and folds the arm 130 to make an angle equal to or greater than a predetermined angle, the folded state can be maintained. When the arm 130 making an approximately straight line with the arm head 120 is folded so as to be distant from the window 200, and the folded state is maintained as described above, a user can conduct operations, such as wiping of the window 200 or replacement of the wiper blade 134 with a new one.
The arm head 120, to which the arm 130 is coupled, is combined with the shaft 110, which is connected to the driving motor 102 via the linkage 104 and rotates with a rotation of the driving motor 102. The combination of the arm head 120 with the shaft 110 must be strong because a high rotating force of the driving motor 102 must be delivered to the arm head 120. At the same time, a method of combining or separating the arm head 120 with or from the shaft 110 must be simple.
The conventional wiper assembly 100 uses a locking member 140 to combine or separate the arm head 120 with or from the shaft 110. The locking member 140 rotatably fits onto a first protrusion 124 formed in the arm head 120 and is elastically biased toward the shaft 110 by a coil spring 160 installed between the locking member 140 and the arm head 120. One end of the coil spring 160 is fixed into a spring notch 142 of the locking member 140, and the other end is fixed to the arm head 120. A cover 150 is installed on a side of the locking member 140 opposite to the arm head 120 and fixed to a pair of second protrusions 126, protruding from the arm head 120, and the first protrusion 124 using screws 152. A stopper 144 is formed on one end of the locking member 140.
In the conventional wiper assembly 100 having such a structure, the shaft 110 is inserted into the shaft hole 122 of the arm head 120 using the following method. First, a shaft head 112 approaches the shaft hole 122. Next, the locking member 140 that blocks the shaft hole 122 is rotated about the first protrusion 124 while resisting the elasticity of the coil spring 160 so that the locking member 140 is removed from the entrance of the shaft hole 122. While the state of the locking member 140 unblocking the shaft hole 122 is being kept, the shaft head 112 is inserted into the shaft hole 122. Finally, when the power applied to the locking member 140 is removed, the locking member 140 rotates back toward the shaft 110 because of a restoring force of the coil spring 160, and one end of the locking member 140 is placed under the shaft head 112 such that the shaft 110 is not separated from the shaft hole 122. On the other hand, the shaft 110 can be separated from the arm head 120 by performing the above-described assembling steps in an opposite order. More specifically, the locking member 140 is rotated to be distant from the shaft 110 by resisting the elasticity of the coil spring 160. At this time, the shaft 110 is separated from the shaft hole 122.
Since the shaft 110 in the conventional wiper assembly 100 is inserted into the shaft hole 122 of the arm head 120 while an operator is maintaining the state of the locking member 140 being rotated, the operator must use both hands. Also, since a strongly elastic coil spring should be used to keep a strong combination between the shaft 110 and the arm head 120, rotating the locking member 140 itself will be hard. Furthermore, average consumers other than skilled workers may not combine or separate the shaft 110 with or from the arm head 120.